Small portable boats have been around for hundreds of years. But boats that can be taken apart for easier portability and storage have been patented throughout the last century. The problems addressed by inventors of portable boats are the following:    1. Portability and Convenience: Major factors here are: size, especially size when in portage or storage mode. weight, and ease of assembly.    2. Safety: Major factors here are: stability, durability, and ease of repair.    3. Cost: in order to make small portable boats available to the public, inventors must consider kinds and costs of materials, ease of fabrication, including number and simplicity of manufacturing steps, and ability to adapt methodology to make various kinds and sizes of boat configurations to fit customers' needs.
As technology has offered us new materials and innovations in fabrication methods, lighter and more efficient boats have come into being. Among the many solutions to the above mentioned problems, here are some relevant to present art, together with their advantages and disadvantages. The topics covered are: boats in nesting parts or sections; multi-sectional boats; skin-on-frame, or skinboats; collapsible hard hull boats with fabric covers; keels, centerboards, and skegs for stabilizing small watercraft; and releasably attachable coamings.